Autumn Brown @autumnbrown06 - Tumblr Blog

My Client’s Challenges

I think the biggest challenge my client will face is becoming a social organization instead of an organization that just has social media. I have worked with them throughout the semester and they have many goals and visions. I advise that they only focus on one goal at a time to make sure that goal gets completed. I am also worried that once the position of Membership Coordinator changes, all the social media accounts will go dormant again. It is important to give the next leader all the resources they need to run the accounts properly. This includes what personality is the organization’s accounts, what vision and goal are the accounts trying to achieve, and simple things like usernames and passwords. Who owns the account (what email is being used) will have to be changed as well. If none of this is done, the organization’s social media will become inactive and lose any chance of becoming a social organization. I also hope that they will keep my notes for the upcoming years as I think they are also vital to the social media’s success. I really liked in the lecture how the Professor emphasized the connection between community and communication. This is also something that my organization struggles with and I hope my recommendations will help.

This is my last blog post for BIS315. It has been a blast!

thethomasgraham

The importance of Content

Grabbing the attention of readers and followers on social media is one of the most important things a business can do to grow their online platform and further their company goals. There are many different ways to grab the attention of people on social media or just media form in general.

When talking about types of content that a company can put out on their media, there are primarily two types: created and curated. Curated content is more along the lines of content that is gathered from other sources and not directly from the company themselves. This type of content is very easy to generate when compared to created content/ Created content comes directly from inside a company itself and takes some work to produce. This content can be more personal at time so sometimes it can be more effective. To have an effective a well-established social media one must have a good mix of these two types of content. The typical standard for a good mix of the two types of content is usually 60% curated content and 40% created content. A couple of good tips to remember when figuring out how to have content that grabs the reader’s attention are: have a strong and intriguing title, include visual content, include a call to action, limit self-promotion, and encourage people to share your content. In order to have an effective social media you need to be able to create and share content that interesting and enjoyable for your followers.

autumnbrown06

Hi Thomas,

It is important to grab people’s attention by creating engaging content. I really liked your tips on how to create content that is attention-grabbing. I think that encouraging people to share your org’s content it something many organizations forget to do. Instead of just aiming for likes or retweets, work for a certain number of shares. Great post.

amandawatsonposts

Content is Key

Content plays a key role in the success of organizations. From funny gifs to blog posts, organizations take time to ensure they choose content that is relevant and valuable to their audience. Choosing the correct content can be the difference in creating a lifetime customer and losing one. It is important to understand that everything posted, retweeted, commented on, etc. by an organization reflects said company. As mentioned within the training, it is important to ensure the content chosen by the company is reflective of the organization and helps reach the social goals set in place.

The creation of a content strategy allows the organization to create a game plan and set goals. As with many other efforts, not having a plan can result in unorganized, repetitive and irrelevant content being distributed by the organization. The content produced and supported by companies can result in a boost in their consumers if played correctly. There is enormous potential for businesses to use social media sites to their advantage to reach the next level within their industry.

autumnbrown06

Hey Amanda,

I completely agree with you and believe what a organization posts is a reflection of the company. It is important that the content reflects the organization which is why it is so important that the company’s monitor their social media and are careful what they post and say. What would you recommend your client post?

Effective Content Sharing

Sharing and interacting on social media is very important for organizations. Creating effective content draws attention to your organization and keeps followers engaged in your organization. If there is no interaction between followers and the page, there will be less engagement. Therefore, it is important to create and curate content to keep followers interacting with your page. The account should post 60% curated content and 40% created. The curated content is content that is taken from other sources. It is easier and faster than making content. An example of curated content would be when an account on Twitter Retweets something from another page or when an account on Facebook shares a post from another account. When an account retweets or shares a post, it means they agree with the post or like the post. Recently Wendy’s presented a great example of this when they retweeted a post from one of their followers. As seen below, they retweeted something that is very relevant online currently -the game Among Us. They are trying to personalize the account by being trendy. Because it is a trend they are more likely to get a lot more interactions too.

A great way to organize your content is by creating a calendar. It will help you set goals for your social media and create a game plan. My client has made a calendar with me and has all of their posts planned out for the next month. This way they know how much they are interacting. In order to become a social organization, you have to be an effective content sharer. This includes creating content and curating it. You have to have consistent interaction on your accounts and with your followers.

Online Communication

From reading chapters 4 and 5 of The Social Organization by Bradley and McDonald, I learned different effective principles to create a successful online community. The first thing an organization must decide is their mission, goals, and vision. What do they want to do with their social media presence? How do they want their accounts ran? What do they want the personality of the social media page to be? They also need to figure out their target audience and adhere to that audience. A great way to find ways to empower community collaboration is by using the “No, Go, Grow” Model. In the “No” phase, the company needs to declare a “clear and desirable purpose for the community”. They also need to decide whether mass collaboration is appropriate for the community and the purpose. This is where they ask all the “whys” and “whats”. Then once they have evidence that they should go forward, next is the “Go” phase. This is when the company has decided that a potential mass collaborative community is likely to succeed on its own as a grassroots effort”. Finally, in the “Grow” stage, the company decides whether the “purpose actually merits investment and a top-down community-building effort”.

From Hootsuite, I learned of the importance of having, growing, and maintaining an online community. My client currently has almost no interaction with their followers. They do not post very often and when they do, they get little interactions. They need to work on interacting with their followers and members of the organization. I suggested creating posts that involve the organization’s members and tagging the members. I also recommended that my client post more often and maybe try and get into talking about current events. This can be things that are going on around CMU or go broader such as things that are going on around the world.

colemanbassett-deactivated20201

Building An Online Community

When looking to build an online community, there are a couple of important principles revolving around community collaboration that would be helpful to know. First, you should know when community collaboration is appropriate. Typically, community collaboration is suitable when a lot of people share open information that results in a diversity of information and perspectives. It’s usually not suitable when you’re working on something that requires information selected by experts. Next, you should also know where community collaboration is more likely to deliver value. Community collaboration mainly delivers value in sales and operational effectiveness and also helps with brand loyalty. The third is to apply an understanding of your organization’s goals and culture. This is done by developing company goals and making sure they integrate with community collaboration. Finally, companies should craft and distribute an organizational vision for community collaboration. This means involving employees and teams who see the importance of community collaboration. If companies can follow these principles, they’ll eventually be on their way to growing a strong online community. After completing module 4, I was reminded of the importance of word of mouth referrals. People tend to buy things that people they know either use or recommend. Because of this, I feel it’s important for my client to try and integrate a way to get more word of mouth referrals. Also, since they sell high-ticket items it can be difficult for people to walk into the store and buy their products. So implementing a program that is based on referrals may help build a customer’s trust in the company and products.

autumnbrown06

Hello Cole,

I completely agree with you and think that it is important to know where community collaboration will deliver the most value. What are some ways to start community collaboration? I like that you mentioned word of mouth referrals because they are so important. Simply getting a customer to positively comment on a post of an item will encourage their friends to look at the post and item. Facebook does this a lot because when a friend of yours comments on an advertising post, that post usually comes up on your timeline and you will be able to see their review. Thanks for sharing!

thethomasgraham

C is for Community

Building an online community can be fun, but it can also be challenging. There are many strategies to successfully form an online community and further a company’s mass collaboration. Even more important, there are some things to watch out for and stay away from when attempting to construct an online community. There is both a place where collaboration of an online community is appropriate and encouraged and there are also times when it is inappropriate. A time that would be inappropriate would be if a people group gets offended or the discussion within an online community is too personal. It is also important to have a positive attitude and showcase it on social media. No one would want to be part of an online community that is negative and depressing. In some situations, attitude can be everything. Six attitudes that surround the idea of formulating an online community are folly, fearful, flippant, formulating, forging, and fusing. It is important to understand how each of these attitudes tie into social media and mass collaboration. One of the most important parts to constructing an online community is generating a vision or mission of the company that is clear and somewhat concise. It is very helpful for others to get involved in an online community if they know what they are supporting.

My client is definitely not taking advantage of their online community. They are only on Facebook and Instagram which limits how many people they can reach in their online community. Creating profiles in platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn could really boost their online community. My client also does not do a great job of establishing a clear vision as a company and I believe that this hurts their online community. Just this year, the business that I am advising hired someone to be in charge of their social media, so it is a work in progress. Through some exercises and discussing, we have been able to establish a more clear mission or vision to promote on social media that should bolster their online community and mass collaboration.

autumnbrown06

Hello! I really liked how you talked about the importance of having a positive attitude for your company’s website personality. Do you think your client does a good job at this? Does your company’s mission and vision coincide with a positive attitude? Since their social media is currently new, presenting to the community what your company represents is very important. You need to make sure that your vision/personality of the company is clearly visible to people who visit the social media sites. Good Post!

riley-hopkins

Big Data

Every business uses big data to operate their company, big data is defined in “The Legal Side of Big Data” as volumes of data being collected. There are methods or algorithms being used to process that data through various programs. Then modeling is going to take place with that data and from that, we deduce some form of human behavior that perhaps has taken place so we can predict our next customer, or perhaps next engine failure, or some other thing that we can learn about. Big data is a thing that can help out businesses immensely, but it can also hurt the business if it gets into the “hands” of the wrong group of people, to prevent this from happening businesses and customers need to be more aware.

Some ways that businesses should be aware of when using big data is how easy it is to get ahold of when many people have access to it. When there is a lot of people that have access to the big data it is not as protected and there could be one person to release all of it. Another thing that business should be aware of when using big data is how much is being produced and how it that much data is being protected. A business should also be aware of how big data is being used when operating with other businesses, for example, are they selling the consumer data that you collected.

As for consumers they also need to be aware of their data is contributing to the company that they are doing business of if being used when business use big data because 100’s of million pieces of data is being collected about them. Private information such as credit card information, how many times the consumer has been to the store, what was purchased is all being collected about them. Being more aware of this type of information that is being given out to businesses can prepare them for if/when one of the business information is hacked. Another thing that consumers need to be aware of is the private information that is being collected by places they are doing business with can sell the data when going into bankruptcy.

For businesses, big data is more of an opportunity rather than a threat, but to avoid the threat business must know that there needs to be protection put into place. Businesses should put in legal protection, make sure the consumers are protected, put in privacy policies, make vendor agreements, ensure the security of where data is being housed, and make sure that the business knows what would happen if it were to go bankrupt.

autumnbrown06

Hi Riley,

You talk a lot about consumers and businesses being aware of their data and hw it is being used. What do you think are some ways consumers can learn more about the information being collected? Do you think people are very concerned about getting their information stolen? I feel like people give out their information so freely these days. I know I am guilty of it too. I buy things from and use a lot of different websites. I should make a list of all the businesses I have bought from and who know my information. Thanks for sharing.

payne1ac

They’re Watching..

Recently, I was given the task of watching The Legal Side of Big Data. The main thing that businesses needs to be aware of is both the integrity of their data as well as data security. In essence, businesses need be sure that their data is not being compromised. This is very important because a business operates based on their data. It’s a huge asset to their company, and it could cause major consequences if the integrity was comprimised. Consumers should be also be aware of data being compromised as well. On the consumers side, if their data is compromised it could cause major issues on a personal level. Companies store ALOT of persona information about their consumers. Everything from credits cards all the way to social security numbers.

The best way to balance opportunities and threats presented by the development of big data is for consumers and businesses to be on the same page. Businesses should be sure that they are being as transparent as possible with their consumers. But I think that businesses have the most tasks in this partnership. They have to do their due diligence to make sure their algorithms are up to data, their firewall is strong, and the risk of the company is constantly being evaluated and improved.

After reading the article “The Internet’s Original Sin” I had a realization. No matter how much you try , there is always data being recorded about you. A lot of us, like myself use social media quite frequently. All of these platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat and countless others are collecting data from us. Following our interest, seeing how often we visit different websites and pages. They’re following out moves, and documenting them. We believe that we use the applications for fun, meanwhile these platforms are documenting our every move and making money off of us.

What are your thoughts?

autumnbrown06

Hello!

I completely agree with you. It is very important for companies to be aware of their data and make sure it is safely secured. If customers have their data stolen they should be instantly alerted. They should also be told what data is being collected from them. I also hate the idea of platforms documenting my moves and making money off of it. I also wish that I would take the time more often to read the terms and conditions instead of just pressing ‘I agree’.

Big Data

I found the video, The Legal Side of Big Data, to be very interesting and informative. In the video, it defines Big Data as, "volumes of data being collected, methods or algorithms used on that data, used to predict the next customer or for example a car’s engine failure or how much a hospital should spend on a patient". Big data can be very useful and helpful when used properly. For businesses, big data allows them to gather information about their customers. From this information, they can predict what their customers prefer and would like.

However, big data can be dangerous for consumers. The customers are constantly getting information gathered about themselves. If this information gets into the wrong hands, things can go downhill very quickly. One of the big examples, is hacking and people getting their credit card/debit card numbers stolen. Every 39 seconds, a hacker attacks a computer. It is important that customers know what information is being collected and for what purposes.

Somethings big corporations can do are 1.) be very aware of who has access to this information, 2.) be aware of how much data is being produced and what it is specifically being produced for, and 3.) make it top priority to protect their customer’s information by using top technology.

In the article, The Internet’s Original Sin, it highlights how things have started to be used incorrectly. It is smart to be very careful about what you post. Anything that you put on the internet, stays there forever, and cannot be deleted. It is important to also know what information you are giving to different companies. Companies use surveillance in their advertising by using pop up ads and emails. I know I have had some instances where I either googled something or talked about it out loud and then I got an advertisement about it. It is nice that what I like is placed right in front of me, but it is also creepy that they know so much about me.

lisawest

Reasons Junk News Spreads So Quickly

In the article by The Oxford Institute, discuss why junk news spreads so quickly across social media. The first item discussed is the algorithms on one’s social media. What was discussed was how Facebook news feeds or Twitter trending topics are selected and prioritized by algorithms that have been specifically coded and then delivered to scroll through. For example, I watch Netflix, and one of the shows I watch is Grey’s Anatomy, and whenever I go on Facebook, I will always have a popup updating me on the front or presenting me with past information. Also, my Twitter and Facebook are both heavily overloaded with political feeds because I was researching the news to see what was true or false. The worst part about algorithms, though, is that once an item goes viral, it does not matter if the content is correct or not; a mass number of people will be reading the object presented in front of them.

Next discussed is advertising, which is built on collecting data and selling it to companies to understand the new generations and items. Ever wonder why social media is free? This is because when one signs up for the social media account, you pay with your personal information. Junk news can be presented in two ways, clickbait and endorsements. With endorsements, they select famous people to model or use the product, hoping that you will buy the product if you like the person on your TV screen. For example, Fabletics has a deal for 2 for 24 on leggings with Kate Hudson, and once you click on the website, you have to sign up to be a member or pay full price for the product. Advertising can be deceitful, and some companies hope that if you pay more attention to the advertisement than the product, you will buy the product before having hesitation.

Last is the exposure to how the junk news spreads so fast. People will pay more attention to political content the fits an ideological package that they subscribe to. If you already know the candidate you support, the only information selected for you to see is positive and no negatives, and I can testify to this saying. The fake news on social media about politicians is outrageous. A downfall to exposure is we do not want to face the cognitive dissonance to new and challenging information. If I see a news feed about a different candidate, then I support I will brush it off and not even look into the article because I do not support it; it’s impaired tunnel vision.

All in all, junk news spreads quickly because people do not consider real information because it does not come across their feed. If someone has to dive into the story, they will likely not do that. It is effortless for junk news to spread fast.

autumnbrown06

Hi Lisa

I LOVE how you pointed out the 2 for $24 legging thing. This happens to me ALL the time and I never realized how those ads get to you until you said it. I almost always click on the ads and they are always too good to be true. They either want me to sign up with the website, spend a certain amount to get the discount, or the shipping is ridiculous. I also liked how you said many companies do this on purpose because they want you to focus on the ad rather than the actual product. $24 is a cheap price for two pairs of leggings. So if you are more focused on the price and how cheap it is you wont notice the quality or design as much.

payne1ac

Click Here: FAKE NEWS

Algorithms are both a blessing and a curse. There are so many great benefits to algorithms but they can also bring harm. Algorithms collect tons of data that you may or may not realize. They get to know us inside and out. Learning the things we like and don’t like, then these things are formed to show us new things we like. Aside from this, algorithms always promote the trendy, or popular information. With this it’s very easy for these algorithms to automatically send you a new post, or article without fact checking. I’ve experienced algorithms in the way they work several times. Such as watching YouTube videos, and information videos ready to play next based on my interest. I’ve also had situations where an algorithm would suggest something for me to read/watch, and it would be false information about the election.

Secondly, advertising is another concept that pushes fake news. Much like algorithms, advertising is also a blessing and a curse. Because of advertising, so may apps that we love are free. Not just social media but games, administrative apps, dating apps and more. But what’s the point of advertising? To inform. But in order to inform you need an interest. How do you create an interest? Interesting and catchy titles. Which can also lead to …. Click Bait! The sole purpose is to attract attention, not to inform you of what’s really happening. And it’s always something that is involving a celebrity, a scandal or dramatic news. Click bait comes in all forms. Check out some examples HERE. I can think of a few times where I have given into click bait. When the former president was running his campaign, there where so many things that he was doing to anger people and there were numerous articles saying something new that he had done. A lot of it was click bait and fake news, but I was still so intrigued.

Finally, exposure is the final reason as to why fake news spreads so quickly. Depending on what the user is interested in fake news is more likely to spread. For example, there are a lot of people who believe in conspiracy theories. Things like the illumantai, the myth of COVID, and Jefferey Epstein’s death. Conspiracy theories are just how they sound. They are not proven true. But for a person who follows, and is engaged in things like this they are more Miley to see these things on their timeline. It’s safe to say that most of these things may or may not be true, but it is not proven by a fact. Hence, Fake News. A more personal example, I have been wanting to get more active with my reading so I have been following a lot of authors on self help books. Ever since then I have been getting articles about way to improve yourself. Some of the articles I saw had nothing to do with self help but were just click bait.

I think as a society we need to be more aware of the things that we write, post, or say. Fake news is just gossiping times 10. Companies need to be more cautious about what they say and how they say it. But as a whole we need to start fact checking people and their sources. But just remember when you read something online that does not automatically mean it’s true.

How have you noticed some of these things in your everyday life?

autumnbrown06

Hello

I really liked how you pointed out that because we have advertisements on many social media apps this lets them be free. This is something that I forget often and makes me appreciate ads more. While they are annoying and its creepy when they know exactly what you want, they also can be very helpful. I also like how you gave your own example of fake news. This is something everyone has been struggling with the last few months because of the election. No one knows what is actually true but for a lot of people, if they read it, it is true. I agree and think that we as a society need to be more careful what we post. We need to fact check things more before simply pressing share or send.

Algorithms

One of the main things that stuck out to me in the article “Three reasons junk news spreads so quickly across social media” was the talk on algorithms during the 2020 election. I noticed during this time, that everyone on my social media seemed to be agreeing with one another. I was not seeing posts from the other party or hear people talk ill about one party. My social medias became very one sided. While it was nice to see people believe in what I do, I also like to get everyone’s perspectives on a topic. Because of algorithms, I was not able to do this. My social media would only show me what it thought I wanted to see. Along with only seeing content my app thinks I want to see, it also narrows down whose posts I see. I do not like this because I miss out on some things. If someone had not posted in a long time, I more than likely will not see it because it is only showing me what it thinks I will find relevant. I miss when posts were just shown in chronological order.

Sometimes algorithms and advertising can get very creepy. Just yesterday, I was googling and talking out loud about buying a Christmas collar for my cat. I was on safari when I did this and from that point on my Facebook and Instagram advertisements have been for cat collars or cat related things. While it’s nice to have options of what I was looking for, those apps had nothing to do with my search. It is really creepy that they were ‘listening’ and now showing me what I was looking for. The article talked about Clickbait and how those ads are placed perfectly to get me to want to click them. And honestly, while I complain about them, I did click on the links because the collars were so cute, and they were actually what I had been looking for. And now there are even more advertisements for cat toys that I am very tempted to click on.

While I complain about the ads directly placed in my social media for me, I am also the one who is clicking the ad and walking right into their trap. With every click, they learn more about me. I have shown my interest in cats and therefore will get a lot of ads for cats. This also blends into exposure. I do not get any advertisements for dog items because it knows by now that I am a cat person. Exposure also played a part in the election like I mentioned earlier, and how I could only see things from one party because I had expressed that that was my preference/interest. This caused me to not see important information and see more fake news.

Consultant Work

I think one of the most important qualities for a social media consultant to have is to be open minded. There are so many varying factors of being a consultant; you do not know who you are going to work with or what you’re going to work on. You need to be knowledgeable in various aspects of social media and open to taking on challenges and working on projects you have never done before. Another quality to possess is people skills and communication skills. It is a good idea to be a people person because you are going to have to constantly deal with clients. Consultants are fixing their client’s issues and sometimes doing projects the way their client’s want them done. Consultants have to be patient and be able to have good enough communication skills to keep in touch with their clients, keep their clients, up to date, and explain how the client will be able to run/keep up the social media after the consultant leaves.

If I acted as my own consultant, I would tell myself to first get an updated professional headshot done for my LinkedIn. I currently do not have one and it would make my page more professional. In addition, like to add my resume to my LinkedIn. I would also have myself go through my currently social media and make sure everything I have for the public to see is appropriate. This is especially important for when I want to apply for jobs and have recruiters looking at me. I would also advise myself to make more connections on LinkedIn and reach out to more recruiters to get my name out there. Maybe send them messages explaining that I applied for a position at their job’s company in their field. For example, if I apply somewhere for a public relations job, I can reach out to employees who work in the PR department of that company and connect with them.

rsmith7522

After watching the Nexflix The Social Delimma it was kind of worrisome. I worry for my children. It is kind of scary that the big companies like Facebook, Twitter, etc use these formulas to get us to keep looking.

I worry more about the mental health issues that are on the raise do to social media. I like how the one guy compared Saturday morning cartoons to social media. I remember Saturday morning cartoons and how the commercials were toys or food. It was in a way for us kids to want our moms and dads go out and buy the new toy coming out. But it was easier for our parents to say put it on your list. But with social media it is right there. Kids can’t get away from it. In the documentary they talked about the increase in suicides after 2011. Like I said in a post earlier my son was going through some mental health issues and clicked on a click bate. It was a are you hot or not. The hot people listed see what people think. He clicked on it and oh course wasn’t on the list. It was hard as a parent to explain it was click bate. He was 11. He just got on to Instagram. So experiencing it as a parent I can see the effects. I worry about my children having to have so many clicks. It is scary to think what they watch and what they click on people are collecting that data to use.

I have joked my phone was listening or reading my mind when ads pop up that I have been talking about or googled. It is scary to think that someone is tracking my movements.

I would hope that the people in this documentary and companies start to change what they do and how things are viewed. I hope the data on mental health and social media show them what is going on.

It was a warning to parents and all parents should watch what their children doing on social media and how many hours they are on. My child do not have phones yet or a lot or social media. My son instagram and a lot of it is to keep in contact with a couple of friends that moved. He has one more messaging app and this is to again talk to those friends. Will he get a phone some day. Will he get to use a lot of social media, no.

autumnbrown06

Hello!

I found your post very interesting to read. I love looking at things from different people’s perspectives and I have never looked at the situation from a mom’s point of view before. I am sorry that your son has had some troubles with mental illness but I also think it is amazing as a mom that you are addressing it. Especially when past generations have written mental illness off and not talked to their kids about it. You are doing a great job. There is so many ways a child can be manipulated online and having you there to explain to him why things are the way they are will really help him. I hope that your generation and mine do a better job at teaching our kids about mental illness and social media.

ticobrown59

The Social Dilemma

After watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix I was extremely blown away by how deeply manipulated we are by our technology which led me to worry a bit.

In the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma my eyes were truly opened to how much we are manipulated by these algorithms. Its very creepy to begin to think that there is some algorithm out there constantly evolving to keep your attention for as long as possible. In the documentary people with first hand experience with working with big companies such as facebook explain how they keep you drawn in. Everything we do on social media is being monitored and tailored to us individually so that we spend more time locked into our phone. These algorithms can affect how we feel bye what we see by altering many different things to keep you drawn in and when you begin to see how addicted you are its kind of alarming.

I feel that this documentary informed me that we have a very big societal issue that is going on that we are completely blind to. As a society we are completely blind to how much this technology takes out of our lives. The only way possible that I could think of would be to delete many social media apps because all they do is keep your attention focused on that app. These algorithms have advanced so far that it knows exactly what to produce to keep your attention because this is what makes them the money. I feel that this monster of these algorithms that we have created is a monster that we cannot control any more and this problem will never be solved. I truly believe that we have created a world that is so dependent that we cannot go back.

autumnbrown06

Hello!

I totally agree with you and found the whole thing very creepy and disturbing. I always thought about how companies convinced you to download and use their app, but I never imagined that they would be keeping such close tabs on me or that I was somehow being manipulated to use the applications way more than I would normally. I had never even noticed the tactics they use to keep you on the app. Did you do anything different after watching the documentary, such as deleting apps? I deleted at least five of mine. Good post!

Social Dilemma

Big data and algorithms are such powerful tools because they collect so much information. In the movie, Social Dilemma, we learned that big companies collect data enable in order to grow their company, increase their engagement on their social media sites, and expand their advertisements. The innocent way of looking algorithms is it is a way for big companies to give you what you want. The company can see what you have looked at and based off of that show you things that they think will interest you. The algorithms allow them to uncover patterns about their customers and learn about their customers interests, likes, and dislikes. This also allows companies to change the behaviors of their users without the users even realizing.

What stood out to me the most was how the companies keep track of how long you look at a post. That fact really scared me because I never even considered it to be something that they were watching. It made me really think about all the things I have looked at on my phone and how often I'm on my phone. It also made me realize how much information companies are actually procuring about me. In the movie they show the same consistent guy using his phone and the phone was collecting information about him and slowly building a replica. At the end of the movie they had a perfect replica of the man and knew every detail about him and his next move. It also really scares me to know that they know what I’m going to do and what my next move is.

The dangers of big companies collecting data is they can use it inappropriately. They can use it to change how you feel about yourself, such as causing mental health issues, and they could sell your data to other companies. Notifications were also talked about a lot. How notifications are very unnecessary and usually are not for anything important, but it gets the user looking at their phone and using the app. This is exactly what the big companies want.

I think on a personal level, I can delete the apps I do not need and that are unnecessary. For the apps I keep, I just need to be more careful. I have gotten rid of almost all the notifications on my phone and that seems to really help me stay off my phone and has improved my mental health. As for the apps that I kept, I think I might just have to accept that they are watching me. They are not going to stop so if I want to continue using the app that is almost essentially what I have to do. I just need to be smart about it. Companies can work on being more ethical about their data gathering. They can only collect data that is really relevant to their company. They do not need to know everything about the user. Society needs to not give in to big companies so much as well. It’s ridiculous that in the society we live in, it is just okay for companies to collect everyone’s data.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Autumn Brown